Chapter 264 - Hazy Reflections (Patreon)

“Well, that was really something, else, wasn’t it?” Teilon said.

Teilon found himself standing near the entrance where they had entered the portal earlier. They had been displaced slightly so as not to interfere with any other Parties exiting the Dungeon. The System seemed almost sentient at times, keeping up with the little things.

“I… really don’t know what to say,” Gulley admitted.

“You and me, both,” Teilon answered. “Well, that’s not entirely true. I do know that you guys passed with flying colors. I’ll have to spend some time to write up the full report for Reivyn and the rest of the officers later, but I can say that I was impressed.”

“It really wasn’t that difficult of a Dungeon when you break it down,” Gulley downplayed their performance.

“That’s only kind of true,” Teilon said. “The aura from the…” Teilon glanced around before continuing in a whisper, “from the Dragon was the real deal.” He continued in a normal tone of voice. “You handled it as well as anyone could be expected to.”

“The entire squad was incapacitated,” Gulley rolled his eyes.

“Except for you, and you and your men’s response to it is what matters. We can’t always expect things to go perfectly on the battlefield, and getting knocked down by a Fear Aura is probably not too uncommon in the big leagues, considering all the Skills that exist out there.

“You, as the squad leader, maintained your sobriety and immediately got your squad back in fighting shape. You followed the instructions of your ‘superiors,’ and you integrated with an unfamiliar Skill.

“Finally, you kept your head at the true ending, and your tactics were sound. Sure, they were conservative, but that was the correct choice. I imagine if you had tried to split your forces in some sort of Charge or surprise attack, those creatures would have been able to take out your troops one-by-one. You fought them as a military unit, exactly as you should have.”

“Ok, you’re beginning to convince me,” Gulley chuckled. “It’s not that I felt our squad performed subpar or anything, it was just a really weird Dungeon.”

“Yeah, I agree. We’ll have a debrief with Kayzor here once all the squads are finished.”

“Not with Major Reivyn?” Gulley quirked an eyebrow.

“Reivyn still hasn’t actually gone in the Dungeon. He didn’t go this time because of the setup, so he’s going to wait another week and form a Party with several of the officers who acted as inspectors. He’s not going to spoil himself and go through the same tradition as everyone else, so he’s not here.”

“That makes sense,” Gulley nodded. “From what I’ve heard, he’s a pretty by-the-book kind of guy.”

“You’d be surprised,” Teilon smirked. “But yeah, when it comes to his job, he’s going to do it right, every time.”

“Really?” Gulley had a skeptical look on his face.

“Of course! He wouldn’t skimp on proper order with his own Mercenary Company. If he cheated while everyone else couldn’t, everyone would look down on him.”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m skeptical about,” Gulley shook his head. “You said, ‘you’d be surprised.’ What did you mean by that?”

“Oh, Reivyn can get up to mischief just like anyone else… Well, more often than not he’s dragged into it by me, but that’s beside the point.”

“Huh, learn something new everyday.”

Teilon stood back and let Gulley take charge of his squad. The man wasn’t just steady on the battlefield, he also understood to take care of his troops' morale afterward. Teilon nodded his head at the methods he used, too.

The squad might seem like the smallest unit in the mercenary battalion, but it actually wasn’t. It was further broken down into fireteams. Gulley instructed the squad on what he wanted them to do, and he let the fireteam leaders supervise the mercenaries under them.

He had them do a health and wellness check first. Everyone checked their Health and status to make sure there weren’t any lingering ailments, like bleeding. Sometimes with the rush of adrenaline in a fight, one wouldn’t know they had been hit until it became a problem. Bleeding effects were notorious in that they could do percentage damage.

After everyone was checked out, next on the list was the gear check. Everyone took their armor off and laid it out in a methodical manner. They didn’t just spot check it on each other. They went over it as close as they could, inside and out. It was a good thing, too, because some rents and tears that weren’t visible while worn were discovered on a couple of the pieces. It could prove incredibly frustrating, if not lethal, to have a piece of armor fall off in the middle of combat because of a faulty strap.

Once they were done, they geared back up and stood in a relaxed manner. They didn’t fall-in or anything, and simply chatted to pass the time. Teilon looked around and noticed that most squads performed the more detailed check, but not all of them. He would speak to Reivyn about making sure they got points deducted whether their instructors made note of it or not. He pretended to write about his own squad’s report to make notes about it.

They didn’t have to wait much longer for the last squad to come out of the Dungeon. As far as Teilon could tell, there were no casualties. That didn’t mean there weren’t obvious squads that didn’t do as well as others. Some mercenaries came out bloody and limping.

“Alright!” Kayzor appeared on scene, grabbing everyone’s attention.  “We’ll give the last several groups some time with the Healers and a chance to rest and go over their inspections.”

The last groups took care of their business. None of them scrimped on doing a thorough inspection as it seemed like all eyes were on them, judging them. Even doing a full gear check, though, they still finished quickly as they knew everyone was waiting on them.

“Now, this is a debrief that every soldier in the Imperial Army gets after completing the Dungeon: Welcome to the club!” Kayzor exclaimed with a huge grin.

All the mercenaries looked around, a little apprehensive about the little speech. They weren’t “in the know” like they would have been if they had been regulars.

“It’s not necessarily a small club, when you think about it, but it’s definitely exclusive. You have bragging rights, and the other soldiers will see you as one of them, now - if you hadn’t ever served in combat with them, that is. That kind of trumps completing a Dungeon.

“Anyway, there’s a couple of reasons why we do things this way. Does anyone care to guess what they are?” Kayzor glanced around the silent room for a moment. “Nobody?” He gave a small sigh. “I don’t know why I think it will be any different each time.

“So, one might think this is a strategic resource of utmost historical and tactical importance, but it’s that’s not it. We can participate with the Group Shield Skill while in the Dungeon and attached to the shadow units, but you’ll notice if you try and do it now, there’s something missing. We don’t know for sure what it is, but we guess there’s probably an individual leading the shield with a minimum Skill Level.

“So, is it the historical information contained in the scenario? The Dragon verse the Hero? Not really. The events in the Dungeon are so old it really doesn’t matter, and there are historical records of other Dragons and others known as Heroes throughout time.

“Is it the fact that the Dungeon seemingly doesn’t belong in a Tier 4 Region?” Kayzor paused and looked all around at the expectant faces. “Again, no. We’ve done extensive testing over the years, and the simple fact of the matter is that the System is using smoke and mirrors to fool us.

“If anyone had decided to leave their position in the formation and seek out the man who addressed you in the beginning, you’ll find that his ego doesn’t last beyond selecting the difficulty. Yes, he will respond to you as a real, thinking being before you select a difficulty, but it only lasts for a couple of minutes. If you don’t select a difficulty and try to converse with him further, the System automatically selects the default, normal difficulty.

“What then, is the reason?” Kayzor once more glanced over everyone before continuing. “It’s quite simple: Grit. It’s a test of determination. If you know that you’re about to witness what amounts to a light show with a bit of Fear Aura, that first experience won’t be nearly as impactful. Going in blind, we can identify those who will break in the face of the enemy.

“We train extensively beforehand so this doesn’t happen, but every now and then, some slip through who really shouldn’t be here. They get identified and tossed out. Luckily that didn’t happen with any of the trainees this time around.”

A hand went up among the crowd. Gulley saw it out of the corner of his eye and searched to see who it was. He identified one of the other squad leaders. Kayzor paused in his little speech and indicated for the man to ask his question.

“Sir, you said it’s a light show and smoke and mirrors,” the man asked, “so does that mean choosing Hard Mode is an option?”

“Oh, no,” Kayzor immediately denied. “That’s all real. Everyone who’s ever chosen Hard Mode in the past has not made it out, and, understandably, after so many failed attempts, nobody wants to try anymore.”

“Then why weren’t we warned ahead of time?” The man continued. “I’m sure there have been instances where people have overestimated their abilities and chosen the Hard Mode on their first attempt.”

“It’s not necessary,” Kayzor shook his head. “I’m guessing you didn’t try to select Hard Mode.” Kayzor paused and the man shook his head. “Yeah, it wouldn’t have mattered. You can’t select Hard Mode on the first attempt. The System doesn’t let you.

“Which means that everyone in the past who’s attempted it knew exactly what they were getting into. Many of them thought that since the rest of the experience was scripted, the burning of the vanguard might be as well. It’s not. That’s all real. Don’t select Hard Mode the next time you go in.”

Gulley nodded his head. Every other Dungeon he had been in, certain actions were required to trigger the Hard Mode. For the most part, it was highly unlikely one would know what actions were required to do so on their first attempt, so that kept those who weren’t ready from challenging something they couldn’t beat. For those that were good enough to figure it out on their first trip, they were usually good enough to win.

Guides sold by the Adventurer’s Guild negated some of the guesswork, but for the most part, Adventurers weren’t foolhardy. They did it for a living, and they weren’t interested in throwing their lives away. There were warnings in the guides that told how to activate Hard Mode, and even then, most competent Adventurers, even those overpowered for a particular Dungeon, wanted to experience the normal Dungeon on their first delve.

That didn’t always apply, of course. There were plenty of memorials for those who thought too highly of themselves or too little of the danger of a Hard Mode.

It made sense to Gulley that a Dungeon that just asked what difficulty one wanted would require a completion on Normal Mode.

There was a short lull in the speech, and Gulley found himself raising his hand. Kayzor motioned for him to speak.

“What was the Epic Difficulty? I’ve never seen or heard of that before,” he said.

Kayzor simply shrugged.

“It’s gated just like Hard Mode,” Kayzor answered. “You would have to complete the Dungeon on Hard Mode to be able to select it. There are hypotheses of what it entails, and we’re about 99% sure it’s accurate, but we’ve pretty much given up on ever finding out. Nobody has ever survived the Dragon’s Breath at the beginning of the Dungeon.

“I’ll let all of you speculate on what it would be. I’m sure you’ll come to the same conclusion with just a little thought. It’s not really an important question at this point other than the existence of Epic Difficulty being a thing, considering we’d probably need to invite a high Tier 6 or even a Tier 7 to try it out. People old enough to be that strong aren’t really interested in attempting ‘certain death’ scenarios, though.”

That last comment elicited a chuckle from the crowd.

I’m sure I already have an idea, but like he said, only an old ancestor would likely ever have the chance of finding out, Gulley mused. I can think of a couple who might be interested, but there are other complications associated with that.

Gulley put it out of his mind. Maybe one day someone would brave the dangers of the Dragon’s Fire again, but he wasn’t going to get hung up on the idea.

“The fight at the end against the Dragonlings is the only real combat challenge in this Dungeon,” Kayzor continued. “The number you face is also dependent on the size of the Party, though never less than two. This Dungeon is unique in one last way in that the normal rules of Party size don’t apply. We’ve sent an entire company in before, and they simply form up with a shadow-officer and then fight a larger force of Dragonlings at the bottom of the cliff.

“So that’s the gist of it. Quite simple, really. It’s not some big state secret, so there won’t be anyone coming after you if you leak the details. You’ll just be compromising a personal test for those that come after you.

“There are already leaks out there, too, for those that want to find it. Mostly, those that enter the military don’t seek them out, though. It’s a point of pride. I understand you all are mercenaries, but you’ve still joined our brotherhood with this small test, and I know that Major Reivyn isn’t going to run you any different than if you were Imperial Regulars.

“Are there any more questions for me before I turn you over to your Platoon Commanders?”

Kayzor scanned the crowd for a final time. There were no more hands going up. The explanation for the Dungeon cleared most of the relevant mysteries, and this wouldn’t be the last time they would delve into this Dungeon.

“Dismissed,” Kayzor gave the simple command.

Gulley turned to his squad members and jerked his head toward where his Platoon Commander was waiting. The other squads in his platoon began migrating toward their commander as well. Their lieutenant waited with a stoic, yet confident expression on his face.

All of the officers were veterans of either the campaign in Drallo or Vairo, and Gulley could see the satisfaction on the man’s face. As far as Gulley knew, all of the officers except for Reivyn and his friend Teilon had already been through the Dungeon prior to their test, so they knew exactly what they had been through.

“I’m glad to see that all of you performed adequately,” The lieutenant said. “I’ve already seen some of the reports of the other inspectors. Obviously, none of us monitored any of our own troops, but I’ve only seen and heard good things so far. The Staff Sergeant and I will go through a comprehensive breakdown of the performance over the next couple of days, and then we’ll come up with a training plan based on the results.

“Until then, you have liberty within the city. You still have to be present for roll-call in the mornings and the evenings, though. After you’ve been on a deployment, you’ll get the opportunity for an extended leave.

“Any questions?”

No hands went up. Gulley took a moment to look around and noticed the other platoons were having similar meetings. Everyone was already mustered, so there was no reason they couldn’t do it here and now. The little snippet of efficiency and no-nonsense filled Gulley with a bit of pride.

If the officers were purely picked due to being nobles, he would have expected additional meetings and formations just to sate the pride of the ones in charge. Gulley himself had once acted that way, so he fully understood the colossal waste of time this could have been.

“Very well. Dismissed.”

Once again, the troops were given the order to dismiss. To their credit, Gulley’s squad members looked to him for guidance. The chain of command was an important thing, and it went in both directions. He didn’t have anything additional to say to his men at the time, though, so he simply nodded in the direction of the slopes leading to the bottom of the cliff.

“I’ll see you all this evening for roll-call. Don’t be late.”

That was all that needed to be said. Gulley was fairly strict with his discipline, and his squad members knew there would be hell to pay if they played around. Punctuality and accountability were huge aspects of their new routine that had been drilled into their heads repeatedly over the course of their training.

Gulley sauntered away on his own. He didn’t wait for his assistant squad leader or for his follower.

I wonder who Major Reivyn is going to run the Dungeon with and what he’ll think about it?